Engro Ends 29-Year EPCL Era in Blockbuster Lotte Deal

KARACHI: Engro Corporation is preparing to walk away from a business it helped build nearly three decades ago, and the buyer wants nearly three-quarters of it.

Engro Polymer & Chemicals Limited (EPCL) confirmed that its parent company, Engro Corporation Limited, signed a share purchase agreement on August 31 to sell its entire shareholding to Lotte Chemical Pakistan Limited.

The stake at stake: 510.73 million shares, representing 56.19% of EPCL, changing hands at Rs38.60 apiece in a deal worth approximately Rs19.7 billion. That figure represents Engro Corp's complete exit from a company it helped launch in 1997 as Engro Asahi Polymer Chemical Limited, the venture that grew into Pakistan's only integrated chlor-vinyl complex and the country's sole domestic producer of PVC resin.

Engro EPCL Sale Ends an Era

Lotte Chemical isn't stopping at the parent's stake either. The company's local arm filed a Public Announcement of Intention back in March targeting approximately 73.69% of EPCL, structuring the deal as a two-part move: the 56.19% share purchase from Engro Corp, plus a public offer for another 159 million shares about 17.5% of paid-up capital extended to minority shareholders. That combination would give Lotte a commanding 73.69% stake and operational control.

Here's the twist most readers will miss: Lotte Chemical Pakistan still carries its Korean-rooted name, but South Korea's Lotte Chemical Corporation no longer calls the shots. The Korean parent completed the sale of its 75.01% controlling stake on November 12, 2025, to PTA Global Holding, an investor platform jointly owned by AsiaPak Investments and UAE-based Montage Commodities. The company pursuing EPCL today operates under PTA Global Holding, not a Seoul boardroom.

Also Read: Lotte Chemical Pakistan to Rebrand as Noventra, Double Share Capital to Rs40 Billion

The timeline reveals just how fast this consolidation moved. Lotte Chemical Pakistan submitted its non-binding offer on March 10, Engro Corp's board authorized negotiations two days later, and less than six months later, the two sides inked a binding agreement. Mitsubishi Corporation, EPCL's other major shareholder, had already completed the sale of its 11.007% stake the previous month meaning Pakistan's sole domestic PVC producer saw its ownership structure transformed inside a single year.

A Rapid Ownership Shift

Completion still hinges on regulatory approvals and corporate consents, EPCL's filing states, and no closing date has been set. But the direction is unmistakable: Pakistan's downstream petrochemical assets are consolidating under a powerful PTA Global-backed ownership platform, potentially bringing PTA and PVC businesses under common control.

For Engro Holdings, the exit closes a chapter that shaped Pakistan's industrial landscape. Company leadership has framed the move as a chance to unlock value built over decades while redirecting capital toward new investments. For EPCL itself, the sale marks the end of Engro control at a company whose Port Qasim manufacturing complex feeds construction, cabling, and manufacturing supply chains nationwide.

Markets will now watch two things closely: whether regulators clear the deal without conditions, and how EPCL's new controlling shareholders reshape strategy at a business Pakistan has known as an Engro name for 29 years.